Sunday, August 5, 2018

Meg Flemming: Nurturing Productivity: Strategies for the Highs...and the Sighs

Meg Flemming is an award-winning children's book author include: I Heart You; Ready, Set, Sail; and Ready, Set, Build. Her forthcoming book is Sometimes Rain.

Meg is going old school with paper and pencil to take the room through a workshop to get toward a greater place of productivity.

Spill the Tea...Meg asks us to write down any gossip, things that have happened, things we need to get off our minds. This is one way we can get started, by having a bit of a routine to get your mind to that place where it's time to write.

"Artists are people who have learned to live with doubt and do the work anyway." -Julia Cameron

Meg reminds us that it is a choice to do this, and that we have the courage to do this work. Yay, us!

You're not here to keep your stories in the drawer. You're here because you have something you want to share. Get it out. Work on it.

Know the difference between who's in your field and who's in your court. Meg asks everyone to make two lists (two columns): industry people and non-industry people. Then separate them out between those that give you positive feedback and negative feedback. From the non-industry positives, are friends and family who don't know the business but they are encouraging. Great. Eliminate the non-industry negatives for feedback. Gone. With those in the industry, feedback can be tricky, that feedback that might feel negative needs to be weighed. Helpful feedback should ring true, if it doesn't, ignore it. Continue to turn to those in the industry who provide positive and helpful feedback.

We should also ask ourselves how social media is serving us. Write it down. Is it helping you? Or is it distracting you?